Diplomacy is Hard

It is human nature to believe that any field in which one excels beyond one's peers is difficult. It helps us to believe that we are contributing to the world in a way nobody else could. In most cases, this statement is correct. Unfortunately, we often extend this thought one step further. We often try to say that the field in which we excel is more difficult than the fields in which others excel. This statement is generally false.

Take, for instance, the field of diplomacy. I am not a career diplomat, but engage in diplomacy on behalf of the Board of Dictators when the need arises. I have spent the last few days negotiating with a brad manufacturer, and I can tell you that diplomacy is hard. At a dinner meeting last night, for instance, my counterpart from the brad manufacturer talked unceasingly. I was surprised to see at the end of the meal that his plate was empty, but I think I'll blame that on gnomes. What was more frustrating than the amount of talking, however, was the content of the talking. This individual apparently believes himself to know a good deal about everything, but the things he said reveal that his actual knowledge is far short of his perceived knowledge. Diplomacy is hard, though, because I couldn't just tell the guy he was full of it, but instead had to listen to all of his tripe while subtly dropping hints about the dangers of brads and the reasons his company should limit production. It appears that the negotiations are going well (assuming he doesn't find this post and connect it to himself) so let's cross our fingers. At the GNU Public Dictatorship we are nothing if not tolerant of irritating people!